THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2013

A Boise lawmaker wants Idaho to be a player in the market for unmanned aerial drones, reports Bill Spence of the Lewiston Tribune; Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, introduced two measures Thursday dealing with drones: One to encourage the state Department of Commerce to work with...

Lawmakers have agreed to take another crack at changing how often food stamps are released to needy Idahoans each month, the AP reports. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee agreed Thursday to debate a bill that would release benefits on as many as 10 different...

The House Judiciary Committee has approved HR 2, the resolution to change the House’s ethics rule, Rule 76, to add a standing ethics committee and make other revisions. “We shared this with the minority and we had some very helpful, constructive things that we incorporated...

Opponents of childhood immunizations packed a Senate Health & Welfare Committee hearing yesterday on proposed changes to Idaho’s immunization registry, and after much testimony both for and against, the committee put off a vote on the first bill it was to take up and didn’t...

Believe it or not, an ag group in Turkey has applied to the Turkish Patent Institute to trademark the word “IDAHO” for its agricultural, plant and animal products – and the Idaho Potato Commission doesn’t take too kindly to that idea. Neither did the Senate...

Here’s the final comment from Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, at this morning’s House Rev & Tax Committee meeting on Gov. Butch Otter’s legislation to revise and expand his “Hire One More Employee,” or HOME, tax credit; the famously outspoken lawmaker acidly objected to introducing the...

Members of the House Revenue & Taxation Committee grilled Gov. Butch Otter’s communications director and senior special assistant Mark Warbis for half an hour this morning, before agreeing, on a divided voice vote, to introduce Otter’s bill to revise and expand the HOME, or Hire...

Little bit of an odd one in the list of supplemental appropriations being voted on by JFAC this morning: Pool toys and a disinfection system for the new kiddie pool at Lava Hot Springs. It’s not state tax money; it’s dedicated funds that come from...

This morning, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee is taking its first votes to spend money in the state budget: For deficiency warrants and certain supplemental appropriations, the largest of which is the bill for the wildfire season, $6 million. Because those bills are paid after the...

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30, 2013

A bill that would allow the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to begin selling licenses good for three years to resident and out-of-state hunters and anglers sailed through a Senate committee Wednesday, the AP reports. Agency officials, citing research, say multiyear permits for sportsmen...

A new report released this afternoon by the Legislature’s Office of Performance Evaluations points out “discrepancies between the intent of state compensation policies and their actual implementation,” noting that 90 percent of the state’s classified employees are paid less than the benchmark rate, and 45...

As the debate over Idaho Gov. Butch Otter's proposed state health insurance exchange heats up, a North Idaho senator has sent out a mass email and posted a message on Twitter comparing the role of insurance companies to "the Jews boarding the trains to concentration...

The Senate Resources Committee has introduced legislation endorsed by the state Land Board to change the membership of the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from the Land Board members themselves to five gubernatorial appointees, who will serve staggered, four-year terms. They’d include one member...

Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, a leading advocate for addressing the state’s milfoil problem – he pushed so hard to fight the invasive aquatic weed in the 2006 legislative session that he nicknamed himself “Rep. Morty Milfoil” - said the state’s efforts have been highly...

“Oh, how we love Idaho,” declared Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, as he began presenting HCR 5 in the House this morning, his resolution to name the Capitol Auditorium the “Abraham Lincoln Auditorium,” and marking March 4, 2013 as the 150thanniversary of the creation of...

It’s Pie Day at the state Capitol today, the day when the Idaho Coalition of Home Educators brings home-schooled students to the Capitol to show off their skills and projects to lawmakers, and also hands out lots and lots of delectable homemade pie. Pecan reportedly...

With 12 members of JFAC new to the committee this year, or at least not having served last year, there was an even newer face among the group for the last five days: Acting Rep. Charles “Lee” Barron, R-Corral, who was filling in for freshman...

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Director Curt Fransen is making his first budget presentation to JFAC this morning, so he introduced himself, noting that he was appointed by the governor last February after serving five years as deputy director under then-Director Toni Hardesty. “I think...

Herbicides are the most cost-effective way to control invasive Eurasian water milfoil in Idaho waters including North Idaho lakes, state Department of Agriculture officials told lawmakers this morning. “To us, today, it’s still our best tool available, to utilize herbicide first,” Lloyd Knight, administrator of...

Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A bill that would give disabled veterans an edge when applying for a job with the state is headed for debate in the Idaho Senate. Democratic Sen. Brandon Durst of Boise is the...

The armed man rifling through lawmakers' desks in a Jan. 10 security video taken on the House floor has been identified, reports Idaho Statesman reporter Dan Popkey; Brian Carter, 47, of Meridian says he didn't mean any harm. You can read Popkey's full report here.

TUESDAY, JAN. 29, 2013

A coalition of labor groups is sponsoring a public session in the Capitol Auditorium on Wednesday evening entitled, “Kitchen Table Economics: The Status of Working Families in Idaho,” featuring economist Stephen Cooke on the effect of a repeal of the personal property tax on business...

The Senate Education Committee heard a presentation this afternoon from Alan Dornfest, property tax policy supervisor for the Idaho State Tax Commission, on the impact of a possible repeal of the personal property tax on business equipment on Idaho school districts. The upshot: With only...

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has issued a “Call to Action,” calling on Idahoans to support his push for a state-based health insurance exchange, rather than ceding to a federally operated exchange. “Today I submitted legislation to create a state-based health insurance exchange. I learned that...